Draft eliminator



l, 1935, f N. WIERK l 2,016,160

DRAFT ELIMINATOR Filed July 5y 1934 l I INVENTOR.

wovfm Patented Oct. 1, 1935 UlTED STATES PATENT OFFEQE 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to improvements in draft eliminators and its principal object is to pro-vide a draft eliminator for a hinged door, window or the like, in which a weather strip is used, particularly in connection with the bottom edge. of the door.

A peculiar problem is offered by the fact that as a rule a rug or carpet is provided in close proximity to the door which makes it impossible to secure a weather strip to the bottom of the door edge in fixed position because the weather strip would strike the rug or carpet on the opening of the door and would interfere with the free movements of the door between open and closed positions.

It is proposed in the present invention to provide a weather strip that may be moved between active and inactive positions, the active position being used when the door is closed so as to keep out draft and the inactive position being used when the door is opened so as to allow the bottom edge of the door to clear the rug or carpet.

It is further proposed to provide an automatic operating means for the weather strip whereby the latter is automatically placed into inactive position when the door is opened and is auto-matically placed in active position when the door is closed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an automatic arrangement of the character described that operates practically instantaneously upon the opening of the door so that the weather strip is moved into inactive position immediately upon the initial door opening movement and does not return to active position until the very end of the door closing movement whereby the rug is cleared even though it be arranged very close to the door.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the specicatio-n proceeds.

The preferred form of my invention is illus trated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 shows my weather strip attached to a door in side elevation, the door being in open position,

Fig. 2 a fragmentary vertical section through the weather strip operating mechanism, on a scale larger than that of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 a fragmentary side elevation of the weather strip and its operating mechanism as it appears when the door is closed,

Fig. 4 a section taken along line 4 4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 a section taken along line 5-5 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 6 a section taken along line 6--6 of Fig. 2, and

(Cl. T20-67) Fig. 7 a section taken along line l-'i of Fig. 3.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention vit should be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached 5 without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In Fig. 1 my draft eliminator I is shown as being attached to the bottom edge 2 of the door 3 which latter is hinged, as at 4, to the door frame 5, 10 the door being shown in open position. Two sleeves 6 and 1 are fastened to the bottom edge of the door, in spaced and alined relation to one another, each of the sleeves having wings 3 and 9 projecting from the upper face for lying against 15 the face of the bottom edge of the door, and these wings are fastened to the bottom edge by means of screws I0. While in the drawing the two sleeves are shown as being fastened to the bottom edge directly, it will be understood that if desired the bottom edge may be properly recessed or chiseled to receive part of the operating mechanism.

The sleeve 6 is cylindrical and serves as a bearing for the hinge pin I I which latter has two additional sleeves I2 and i3 secured thereto and the latter sleeves serve as supporting elements for a channel I4 which is substantially coeXtensiVe in length with the width of the door and which has a weather strip I5 supported between the flanges thereof. It will be understood that the weather strip is free to move in its bearing sleeve 5 from vertical to horizontal position and vice versa.

For automatically swinging the weather lstrip into the desired position 1 use the threaded rod I6 which is formed with an angular portion I'I slidably received in the sleeve l which is also angular in cross-section and which is alined with the sleeve 6 previously described. The threaded portion of the rod I6 extends into a correspondingly threaded section I8 o-f the sleeve I3 and is normally urged outwardly by a spring I9 disposed in the sleeve I3 between the rod I I and the rod I6. When the threaded rod is thus forced outward by the spring its outer end projects 45 beyond the inner edge 2B of the door as shown in Fig. l, but when the door is closed the projecting end strikes the door frame or jamb and is forced inwardly, against the opposition of the spring, as shown in Fig. 3.

During this lengthwise movement the rod I6 is held against turning movement by the sleeve 'I and through its threaded engagement with the sleeve I3 causes the latter to turn, the pitch of the thread being such that the sleeve I3 turns through 55 Y a quarter of a revolution whenV the rod E6 moves to secure the proper length for the projecting portion of the rod, which is preferably split for holding the head in adjusted position.

The operation of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing description. Normally, when the door is in open position, the spring urges the threaded rod outward so as to project beyond the inner'door edge and in doing this causes the sleeve I3 to turn so as to bring the weather strip into horizontal position.V But when the door is closed the projecting endof the threaded rod strikes the door jamb and is forced inwardly whereby the sleeve I3 is turned so as to bring the weather strip into vertical position. It will be noted that the action is practically instantaneous. Immediately upon opening the door, that is, during the initial part of the opening movement, the weather strip is swung into horizontal position to clear a rug lying close to the door while it is swung into vertical position only at the very end of the closing movement. I claim: 1' l A draft eliminator for hinged doors and the like comprising a tubular bearing adapted to be Y xed to a doorv edge and having a bore non-circular in cross section, a second'tubular bearing 1 adapted to be fixed to the door edge in alignment with the first bearing and having a bore circular in cross section, a hinge pin in the latter bearing having an end portion projecting-therefrom,

a weather strip having a sleeve aligned with the bearings and at one end loosely engaged about the extended end portion of said pin, the other end portion of the sleeve being internally thickened and threaded, a plunger slidable in the rst bearing and held against rotation thereby, said plunger having a threaded portion lextending from the bearing and engaged in the threaded end portion of the sleeve of the weather strip to effect Va turning movement of the weatherstrip 20 ment to the weather strip.

NICK WIERK.

Vretracted position and imparting pivotal move- 25 

